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World Food Programme high-energy biscuit delivery. Credit: UN Photo/Logan Abassi
Early last month, the agency announced a total of $68m in food aid for the country, which has the world’s third highest prevalence of malnutrition as a result of protracted conflict and drought.
The WFP said today’s delivery, made up of 47,500 metric tons of a Sudanese staple called sorghum, will cover the needs of 200,000 South Sudanese refugees and more than one million displaced people in the conflict-ridden region of Darfur for four months.
Adnan Khan, WFP Sudan representative and country director, said the contribution comes at a time when the organisation is on the hunt for additional resources because more civilians are being displaced in Darfur.
The western state has been plagued by conflict since 2003, when rebel groups began fighting the government, headed by president Omar al-Bashir who came to power in a coup in 1989.
The government, rebels and pro-government militias have been fighting ever since, resulting in a relentless and brutal conflict that has lasted for more than a decade.
While the conflict has subsided in the past, recent spikes in violence have once again exacted a heavy toll on civilians.
In total, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed, many more injured and more than four million have been forced from their homes by the war.
The WFP said Sudan is one of the agency’s most complex emergencies.
A severe drought induced by the El Niño weather pattern has led to increased food insecurity in the country.
Last month, USAID estimated that, at this year’s peak, 4.5 million people are likely to be in need of assistance. The $68m announced by the agency will support 2.5 million.
This figure includes hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighbouring South Sudan, which gained independence in 2011, who also fleeing violence in their own country.
South Sudan’s much-anticipated peace deal, agreed last August, was finally implemented this month as the country’s rebel leader arrived in the capital Juba to form a unity government with the ruling party, headed by his long-time rival the president.
